The conventional approach to making a bistable optical logical device (BOD) is to enclose a non-linear medium in a Fabry-Perot cavity. The cavity is optimized for a particular wavelength at which the non-linearity is strongest. In operating such a device, a holding beam is used to bias the device just below "switch-on". When the device is irradiated with a signal beam, "switch-on" occurs, and the transmission characteristics of the device change. The holding beam and the signal beam are the same wavelength, i.e. that at which the cavity has been optimized.
Such an approach has two limitations. The first limitation is known as critical slowing down. When the holding beam is increased to reduce the intensity of the signal beam needed for "switch-on", there is a critical increase in the time taken to switch the device. The second limitation is that it is not possible to introduce gain into the signal beam except by having a high value of holding beam, which brings the device into the region of critical slow down.
In our British Patent Specification No. 2178191A (W.A Crossland et al 51-17-4) we have described a method for dynamically recording holograms on liquid crystal layers. This involves recording the temperature profile of the hologram by operating the liquid crystal in a regime where its birefringence is sensitive to temperature. Such a device concept is known as thermally induced birefringence (TIB). To increase the sensitivity of the liquid crystal layer, a dye was included which absorbs at the wavelength of the hologram. If the dye is dichroic, i.e if it absorbs preferentially along one axis of the molecule, and has a high order parameter, i.e. it aligns with the liquid crystal director, then it is possible to write and read the hologram with the same wavelength of light. For the read operation the polarization of the interrogation beam is perpendicular to the absorption axis.